New Ranger Molina ready to bolster lineup

ARLINGTON - Bengie Molina was sleeping on the plane when he was woken by his San Francisco Giants teammates telling him goodbye.

"It was kind of weird," Molina said. "Everything was saying how great a teammate I was. I was like 'Wow! I got released.' "

When the 35-year-old catcher got off the plane and read the text from his wife that "we're off to Texas," he finally realized what was really happening. He had been traded to the AL West-leading Rangers and was going back to the AL West, where he went to the playoffs three times including a World Series championship with the Los Angeles Angels.

Molina joined his new team Friday, when he was in the starting lineup and listed batting sixth for the Rangers' scheduled opener of a weekend series against the Chicago White Sox. That game was delayed by rain and didn't start until after 9:30 p.m. Molina singled in his first at-bat.

Texas got Molina and cash from the Giants in a deal announced Thursday for reliever Chris Ray and minor league right-hander Michael Main, the Rangers' first-round pick (24th overall) in 2007.

"I'm looking forward to picking his brain a lot. I've heard nothing but good things about him from the guys that I'm friends with that he's caught," C.J. Wilson said. "They told me he's super prepared and super focused on his job. It should be really exciting."

Molina spent the past 3 seasons in the Giants, where the starting rotation including two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, All-Star Matt Cain and former AL Cy Young winner Barry Zito.

The Rangers optioned catcher Max Ramirez to Triple-A Oklahoma City to add Molina to their 25-man roster.

Molina is a two-time Gold Glove winner who has played 13 seasons for the Angels (1998-2005), Toronto (2006) and San Francisco (2007-10). He is a .275 hitter in 1,305 career games with 142 home runs and 692 RBIs.

Manager Ron Washington plans to continue his rotation of catchers like he has been, except that Molina will get the bulk of the time like Matt Treanor had been with Ramirez.

Treanor, in his seventh major league season, has already played in 56 games, 11 shy of his career high set for Florida in 2006.

"I told Bengie just be Bengie. I don't want him to come up in here and think he has to put on some kind of show for us," Washington said. "I know Bengie, watched him a long time. Very happy to have him. ... He's a Molina brother, and I think that goes with the genes. He fits in well."

"I don't know the Giants without Molina," said Zito, who went to San Francisco in 2007. "It's part of the game. It's unfortunate. We lost a great guy, a very hard worker and a guy that cares more than anyone else probably that I've ever played with."

Now Molina will be working with a staff that includes Scott Feldman (5-7, 5.48 ERA after being a 17-game winner last season), Colby Lewis (7-5, 3.28 in his return after two seasons in Japan), converted reliever Wilson, rookie Omar Beltre and 23-year-old Tommy Hunter. Rich Harden is on the disabled list with a strained left gluteus muscle and isn't expected back until after the All-Star break.

Plus, Molina joins the Rangers midway through a season when they are hoping for a pennant chase after not making the playoffs since 1999.

"It's a challenge for me. If I take it that way, I think it will be fine," Molina said. "I'm not here to make a miracle happen or anything like that. I'm just here to put my little input on whatever I know about the game and whatever I can do to help these young kids."